Topic: The Stricken Chicken

[Mega Baby Huey]

So right now I'm looking at putting a locker in the back of my 4runner... I've got a Moab trip planned this May with Yota87Truck and I'm thinking that a locker in the rear might come in handy... but right now i'm trying to decide between a spartan or a grizzly...

[Yota87Truck]

If you plan on 37s in the future I say grizzly, if you only see 35s in the next 5-10 years I say spartan.

[Kaiser]

Im diggin it man, I wish I could have found a runner when I was looking to buy a truck

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

I recently had some interesting issues with the Stricken Chicken... Idle was acting a little funny. It would idle normal sometimes, and other times it would idle at almost 2k RPM... So after and many painful hours of research on the inter-webs i found that the most likely culprit was a bad TPS sensor... i thought that made sense, since i had recently had a go with the pressure washer in my engine bay. so $150 dollars and several hours later i had my new TPS sensor installed... incorrectly. So, with some help from Yota87Truck, I took it back apart and calibrated it to specs. No change. Turns out this was the culprit:
 



and $1.20 at the local hardware store and i had this new spring and i was good to go... lesson learned!  

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

The journey begins!!!! 

Yota87Truck scored me a rear e locker axle for $500 bucks, and we're doin the swap tonight... We just got back inside from ripping out all the old axle... Came out pretty easy, and I'm pretty excited for an e locker!








It really looks like my truck just exploded...

Not the most dignified way to remove an axle, to be sure, but it worked...



We'll finish it tomorrow... or else it's going to be hard to drive back to Idaho (from Utah)...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

ok... time for an update. We got the axle put in saturday and got it all runnnin good and smooooooooth...  

It was really quite simple and i would highly suggest it to anyone who has access to tools like a welder and grinder (just so you can cut off the parking brake tabs from the old axle and weld it on the new axle)...
I will highlight some of the tiny issues we ran into though. The U bolts were a bit off. the problem comes from the new axle being slightly thicker than the old one. This pushed the u bolts out at an angle on top of the leaf springs. This means i couldn't use the top plate for the u bolts that sits on top of the leaf springs. pics:


I'm planning on doing a u bolt flip kit to rectify this odd predicament... but in case anyone was worried about that 1/4" gap between the u bolts and leaf springs, they have sinched up to the leaf springs...

the second pic also shows my new e brake cable. this was done because of this:

 

it's a good thing i found it because it was about to snap! and knowing my luck it would have done that on a hill out in the bonnies while i'm outside the truck taking a picture or something and that would be bad news...

better pic of it fixed:


We also needed a different brake line from the proportioning valve to the axle. We had read online about people just flipping the brake lines on the axle 180 degrees so the valve is on the passengers side of the axle, and we originally intended to go that route. but we found a place called "The House of Hoes Hose" and just had them make me a new brake line. It costed about $30 bucks and was totally worth it! they had the perfect fittings. the real cool part of this is that the male tip for my old axle is slightly different than the one for this new axle... we only had the cable from my old axle with us and we forgot to bring the cable for the new axle so we could make sure it was the same fitting. when we went in the guy said he didn't have the exact same fitting (this is looking at the old cable), but he had one that was pretty close. So i went with it. When we got back we were pleasantly surprised to find that the male tip that he put on was a perfect match for my new axle...
pics of the fitting tips:





and here we are! all installed an lookin purdy!



We also had to replace one of my u joints because it was worn, but besides that it all went well, and i now have a functioning e locker. Yota87Truck and i took it out to test it and I'll post the pics below...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

testing it out... i didn't really get any pics that showed a situation where i needed an e locker, but i'm sure there will be plenty of time for that!

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

hopefully this video works for you guys

and this one too... i killed it becasuse i was trying not to run over my camera man...

[Yota87Truck]

More Pics

[Yota87Truck]

Got it wired up yet?  Any more off road action with the new addition?

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

no... i had plans to yesterday and then this happened:


this was just when i could hold the camera and snap a pic at the same time... It snowed all the night before and the next morning... Plus I'm still waiting on the relays... I plan on doing a write up, but i just remembered i left my camera charger at your house...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

well ups says the relays are out for delivery, so hopefully i can get it wired this weekend!

[83 Crawler]

wow im watchin this one, im diggin the e locker!

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

well... I'm an idiot. I crossed some wires and the motor stayed on continuously trying to unlock when it was already unlocked... i burned up the motor, and now i gotta find a new motor. I did find the problemS though, and it's all wired to go. I'll post some pics tomorrow...

[Yota87Truck]

Tomorrow is today and today is almost over...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

ok... maybe this weekend... 

[daniresch]

Tomorrow is today and today is almost over...

 

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

and by "this weekend" i obviously meant monday...

(It's up in the top left...)

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

Yota87Truck came up this weekend to visit me in the great white north (that is to say, Idaho) and we got my e locker motor all sorted out, and it all works perfectly! then we went out in the sand and did this:


after much finagling and some digging we were able to back on down the hill WITHOUT rolling it...



  All in all it was a pretty good day since i didn't roll! The moral of the story...

DON'T TRY AND CLIMB SAND DUNES SIDEWAYS WITH LESS THAN 100 HORSE POWER!!!!

but the e locker works great and i can't wait to get it down to moab and see what it can really do!

I'm also preparing a write up on how to rewind your e locker so you can fix it yourself and don't have to pay the dealership $650 bucks...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

here are some more pics from the sand trap...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

and some more pics of my e locker setup... I really like that i was able to use the stock switch!


the green lights up when it's fully locked, and the yellow lights up when there's power going to the motor...that way i don't burn it up again! 



all the relays that make it work are in that black box in the top passengers side of my hood. The box is just a waterproof fishing tackle box from walmart... it works pretty slick!


I have the cover for it, i just haven't put it on yet...

[kycrawler]

nice project

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

I thought my truck sounded louder today! 

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

That oughta hold until i can get back down to 87yotatruck and his welder...

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

A little update here... last week Yota87Truck and I went down to Moab and it was AWESOME! It was my first time, but will defiantly not be my last! We hit up Fins and Things the first day and most of Poison Spider the second... here are some pics...

Stopped for lunch after fins and things and snagged some pics:


The start of poison spider:



my first stair steps in Moab... gotta love slick rock!


after coming up the waterfall...


We stopped for lunch on top of Poison Spider to have lunch and fix a driveshaft:


The little zuk in our group snapped his driveshaft:


the repair crew:



Starting the loop:


The pot hole:




310,000 miles baby!

[themechanic4235]

haha flat paint i love it, get a scratch rattle rattle spray paint fixed haha

[Mega Baby Huey [OP]]

SOLD! 

 so i could get THIS!!!!!